Post-151: Progress Across South Korea After Two Weeks 

“To make it clear across this country, South Korea, on foot” was the goal (see post-146). A cross-country mountain hiking trail called the “Baekdu-Daegan” was the way. 

I’ve made progress, but it’s been really physically tough, and I realize I’m just not too good at this “trekking” thing. I’ve taken many rest days, including presently. 

I began walking from Jungsan-ri [중산리) on Tuesday, September 17th at about 7:20 AM. I passed through Jiri Mountain National Park over the next few days, staying in the efficiently-run mountain hostels at night (which are reservation-only), and then emerged into one of the highly-remote parts of the trail outside the national parks. 

I don’t have much time now to write. Here is a photo I took in Jiri Mountain National Park [지리산국립공원]:

It really does look like that, at the right time of day. An Google-Image search for “Jirisan” yields many more.

It’s now 9:00 AM on Tuesday, October 1st, or two weeks almost to the hour after my trip began. I am now in a town called Hamyang, a ways north of the Jiri Mountains.